


I'm Still A Fool (I Love You)

by Cosmic_Kitty



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: ? - Freeform, Again, Earning Trust, F/F, Getting Back Together, How Do I Tag, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Trust Issues, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, after season two, be gay do crimes squad, jet misses the ruby seven, rita is amazing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2019-10-31 22:56:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17858594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cosmic_Kitty/pseuds/Cosmic_Kitty
Summary: After not seeing one another for two years Juno and Peter are thrust back into each other's lives. While Juno is adjusting to his new life as a criminal Peter revisits a life he thought he left behind a long time ago.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> So this chapter is super long the others may be shorter.

"Hello, Juno. It's been a while."

Juno stared in silence for a moment, stunned. "It has."

"I see you two already know each other." Jet commented.

Juno opened his mouth to answer but ended up in another coughing fit, apparently he hadn't totally recovered from the sand. "Yeah," He wheezed. "I guess you could say that."

"Yes," Peter added. "We've worked together before."

"Wait a minute!" Rita exclaimed. "I know you! You were the fake Dark Matters agent who tried to steal the mask! Mistah Steel told me all about it! And you escaped after he caught you too!"

"Yes, that is... One occasion we worked together." Peter was giving Juno a look that said 'How much did you tell her?'

Buddy handed Juno a bottle of water and held her hand out to Rita. "Rita, nice to meet you, I'm Buddy Aurinko. The one with green hair is Vespa and you've already met Jet and Mr. Nureyev."

"Nureyev?" Juno asked.

"The man on the hood of the car, Peter Nureyev."

"Yes we know him." Juno said.

"Good. Now that we're all caught up let's get going, there's no time to waste." The door closed and they started to ascend.

"Hey, what's up with the new colour?" Juno asked as Peter slid off the car hood. "What happened to the Ruby 7?"

"Ah, you like it?" Jet asked. "I repainted it. It looks good as new."

"No it doesn't. It's green."

"Well I like it!" Rita said. 

"Thank you, Rita."

"Juno."

Juno turned around to see Peter behind him.

"We have a lot to talk about."

"Yeah, about that..."

"Let's go somewhere private to talk."

"Where? This thing is tiny, there's barely enough room for all of us in here!"

"Follow me." Was the only answer Juno was given.

Juno did and soon they found themselves in a tiny room.

An awkward silence settled around them as neither of them spoke. Peter opened his mouth and then shut it again.

"I'm sorry."

Peter remained silent.

Juno sighed.

"Why." It wasn't a question more of a demand for an answer.

"I'm sorry." Juno repeated.

"I couldn't leave, I was scared. I-I just couldn't go with you because you'd find out I wasn't who you thought and you'd get tired of me and leave so I decided to leave before you could." Juno let out a shaky breath. "And it was stupid I know. I should've said something or woken you up or left a note or something but I didn't and I screwed everything up. I understand if you hate me now, for what I did and that's fine. I just wanted to apologize I'm so... so sorry." Juno braced himself, sure Peter was going to be mad. When Peter said nothing Juno looked at him.

"Okay." Peter turned and left leaving Juno to find his way back to the main part of this ship on his own.

When Juno got back Peter and Vespa were standing with Rita who had her comms out he could tell by her expression they were watching a stream.

"Oh! Mista Steel!" Rita called. "Come watch Attack Of The Space Sharks with us!"

"Where's Buddy?"

Rita shrugged. "I don't know. She and Mista Jet are working on something. Now are you gonna watch this with us or not?'

Juno shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Rita's face lit up.

Juno stood next to Vespa and glanced at Peter. It wasn't like he was avoiding Peter there just wasn't a lot of room to stand next to him.

"Alright Boss! I gotta catch you up!"

"I'm not your boss anymore, Rita. We work for Buddy and Vespa now."

"Just Buddy actually, this was her idea." Vespa said although she looked incredibly smug.

"I still gotta catch you up Mistah Steel! Otherwise you ain't gonna get what's going on!" Rita started to excitedly explain what had happened so far and Juno let himself get lost in the show and forget that he was very close to the man he'd fallen in love with and then left alone in a hotel room. Wasn't even thinking about it, at least not all the time.

________________________________________________________________________________

Juno lay awake in his bed, it was small and not very soft but that wasn't the problem. Neither was the problem of height or even the fact that he was off of Mars, even if they were much farther than the Kanagawa's mansion. No, it was the possibility he'd made the wrong decision. That maybe he'd made a mistake. It was already clear Peter didn't want him here and he was pretty sure Vespa felt the same. Rita seemed happy enough although they hadn't even been on the ship for a day.

Juno heard creaking above him and looked up to see Peter shifting in his sleep. The rooms were set up with two bunk beds each. Jet had claimed both bunks of his bed so Juno was left with the bottom bunk on the other bed, Peter's bed. He assumed the other room was set up identically. Juno rolled over and tried to get some sleep.

________________________________________________________________________________

Juno stumbled into the kitchen and started the coffee maker.

As soon as it was done he poured himself a cup and looked up to see Peter cautiously entering. He looked... apprehensive. Something Juno had never seen on his face before, when Peter noticed Juno looking at him the expression disappeared.

"Good morning, Juno."

"Uh..." Juno said intelligently.

"Would you mind getting me a cup of coffee as well?"

"Yeah, I mean no! Um... Sure."

Peter chuckled. "I see you didn't get much sleep last night. Don't worry, you'll get used to it eventually."

"Your name." Juno said quietly.

"What about it?"

"They know your name, does that mean..."

"Yes they know my real name and they know who I really am and they are okay with it. The only one who doesn't know yet is Rita and I'm sure she'll find out soon enough."

"Mistaaaaaaaaaah Steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel!" Rita shouted and came running into the kitchen. "You gotta see this Boss! It's amazing!"

"What?" Rita grabbed Juno's hand and dragged him away to the nearest window that was rather large.

"Look!" She gestured to the window.

Juno looked and gasped. All of space was spread out in front of him and it was breathtaking. He'd seen pictures of space before but seeing it in person was completely different.

"Woah..."

"What do you think?"

Juno jumped, he hadn't heard Peter walk up next to him.

"It... It's... beautiful."

"Yes, it is. Isn't it."

"Do you see this all the time?"

"Yes, and it never fails to impress me." Peter gently placed a hand on Juno's shoulder.

Juno flinched out of reflex and Peter immediately pulled his hand away.

"It is time to go now." Juno looked up and saw Jet in the doorway.

"Buddy is going to explain the mission."

They followed him to a small room with a table in the middle with several chairs placed around it Buddy and Vespa were already there sitting next to each other."

________________________________________________________________________________

"Alright, so that's what we're going to get and Peter did most of the planning of this heist so would you like to explain?"

"Yes, so the Ruby of Pluto is currently on the Guardian Museum. So that means we're going to Brahmah."


	2. Chapter Two

Juno choked on his coffee. "Where!?"

"Brahmah." Peter said matter of factly.

"But-"

"Juno, let me finish. As I was saying we are going to Brahmah to steal The Ruby Of Pluto. As previously mentioned it is on display in the guardian museum which is in... New Kinshasa. Peter grimaced as he said that. "Now I would love to pull this off myself but unfortunately I won't be able to join you on this specific mission. So Juno, how good is your memory?"

"What? Why?"

"Brahmese, Juno. You're going to Brahmah, you'll need to understand the language."

"Anyway, we know what we're going to steal so here's how we're going to steal it."

________________________________________________________________________________

"No, roll the 'R' more."

"I'm rolling it as much as I can! Look, I'm not Brahmese I'm not going to be able to do it right, okay?"

"I know you aren't Brahmese but Aster Hill is."

Juno groaned, they'd been here for hours working on Brahmese and Juno wasn't any better than he had been when they had started.

Juno rested his head on the table. "I quit."

"Do you want to take a break?"

"Yes."

"Okay, it's almost time for dinner anyway."

________________________________________________________________________________

"So then Mista Steel tried to climb out the window because he didn't want to work with Mista Glass. Didn't ya boss?"

Buddy laughed. "We've all done that to get away from Peter at one point or another."

"That was one time." Vespa complained as everybody laughed but she was smiling too.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Okay, your pronunciation was better this time but you aren't saying it right."

"How?" Juno asked. "If I'm pronouncing it correctly how am I saying it wrong?"

"Aster Hill talks with confidence, we've been over this." Peter sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose. "Try it again."

"Look it's late... I think. Are you really gonna keep me up until I get it right?"

"Try it one more time. Juno, I know you're not that happy with the current situation but you can't leave this time. You've almost got it right so just try it one more time."

Juno sighed but did it anyway.

________________________________________________________________________________

"What does Aster Hill do for a living?"

"He's a historian. He wants to see the ruby to study it."

"Good. How does he know Lyra Mercury?"

"She's his assistant. Used to be a professor at a university?"

"Good, Buddy knows where Vespa will be. You have to switch the real ruby with the fake without any of the real guards noticing. Rita and Jet will be dealing with the security cameras. Remember what you're supposed to say and we can do this. I'll be waiting in The Ruby Seven nearby on the ground. Get changed we have to go."

Juno had just finished straightening his tie when somebody knocked on his door. "Just a moment." He called.

"We have to go Steel." Vespa said from outside.

"Shouldn't you be there already?"

"No."

"Okay."

Juno opened the door and walked out. "Your hair!"

"Yeah," Vespa said running her fingers through her newly dark brown hair. " We decide it's better if I don't stand out. Peter didn't want to lend me a wig so I had to colour it. I'm going to kill him after this!"

"Please don't Rita finally has somebody to discuss streams with."

"I watch them too. Anyway Buddy's having us go over this one more time before we go."


	3. Chapter Three

"Everyone ready? Rita, Jet?"

"Yup!"

"Good, Vespa, you ready?"

"Yeah."

Peter turned to face Juno and Buddy.

"You know what you're supposed to do, right?" He asked adjusting his blond wig.

"Yes," Buddy said. "Juno, if you mess this up you're staying here."

"No he's not." Peter glanced at his watch.

"Time to go. You should hurry, we need to do this fast."

Juno and Buddy got out of the car.

"Oh, and Juno," Peter said rolling down the window. "Don't screw this up."

"Thanks for the encouragement." Juno said sarcastically.

________________________________________________________________________________

The elevator ride was longer than expected Juno hadn't expected New Kinshasa to be as high up as it was. He took a deep breath and focused on not looking down.

"What's wrong Steel? Can't get Nureyev off your mind?" Vespa asked.

"What? No, where would you even get that idea?"

"It's pretty obvious."

"Vespa, dear..."

"I'm not thinking about him."

"Then what- Oh... Oh no. Don't tell me you're scared of heights."

"Last time we saw each other you stabbed me so sorry if I'm a bit on edge."

"Everyone be quiet, focus on the job. You can complain about being stabbed later, we're almost at the top get ready."

"Hear that, Rita?"

"Yup." Rita's voice came clearly from Juno's comms.

"You and Miss Buddy are scheduled for your meeting in one hour so you all have plenty of time to look around."

"Should I get you a souvenir?"

"Oh Mista Steel, really!?"

"No, I didn't bring any money and I sure as hell am not going to steal it."

The elevator stopped. 'Welcome to New Kinshasa.' Said a robotic voice

________________________________________________________________________________

The three got to the museum entrance.

Vespa checked her watch. "Damn. I have to go." She gave Buddy a quick kiss before heading off.

"So we're actually going to look around this museum for an hour?"

"We can get to know our escape routes better."

"Okay."

________________________________________________________________________________

"Hello." I'm Aster Hill and this is Lyra Mercury. "We're scheduled for a meeting with... uh..."

"Miss. Lanx." Buddy finished.

"Right this way." Said the guard who had greeted them. They stopped in front of an office door. The guard gestured at a few chairs Juno and Buddy sat down. The guard knocked on the door and after a moment they entered closing the door behind them.

"Remember your lines." Buddy whispered.

The guard came out. "She is ready to see you two."

"Thank you." Buddy said.

They entered the office.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Why do you want to see The Ruby Of Pluto? It's been studied before."

"I believe there is always more to learn." Juno said.

"All right." Lanx picked up her comms. "Freese, would you be so kind to escort us to the storage area?"

"You don't have it on display?" Buddy asked.

"Goodness no, that would make easy to steal. We can't have that happen the ruby is priceless. It's kept in storage with the rest of the artifacts."

"There was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

The guard, Freese, entered.

They left the office and walked through the museum they passed Vespa and she gave them a confused look.

"Don't worry." Buddy whispered as they walked past her.

"We are here." They had stopped in front of a door that read: 'Employees Only'

Freese unlocked the door and they headed down some stairs into what appeared to be a basement.

"Rita, how are things going?"

"Don't worry Mista Steel hacked the cameras in storage as well you'll be fine. They really need more."

"Here it is. Be careful, it's quite heavy" Lanx handed Juno the Ruby.

"Yeah, that's uh... That's pretty heavy. But I've got it."

"We should go now." Freese said.

"Of course." They all headed out of storage.

When they got to where Vespa was standing Juno pretended to trip, something he'd practiced many times. He dropped the ruby. It clattered loudly against the floor.

"Are you okay?" Vespa asked she reached for the ruby. "Let me get that for you." Buddy helped Juno up. Hiding the fact that Vespa slipped the ruby into a hidden pocket in her jacket as taking out a fake. She handed it to Juno.

"Thanks." Juno said taking it.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Anyway thank you so much for coming here."

"No problem." Juno said examining the fake ruby.

"We need to go." Juno said to Buddy quietly.

She nodded and pretended to write something down in a notebook.

"Thank you so much of your time." Juno said. "I'd love to take the ruby to my lab and study it more but I know your policy. I am so sorry but we have to go now."

"Oh no, thank you. If you would like to see any of our artifacts come by any time."

"Thank you." Buddy said. They got up to leave and Freese picked up the fake ruby.

Juno and Buddy had just reached the door when they accidentally dropped the ruby. It barely made a sound when it landed on the wooden floor. Juno stopped in his tracks. He looked at Buddy. Her expression matched his.

"We need to go. Now."

They ran.

"Rita is Vespa still where we switched the ruby's?"

"Yes but you gotta hurry. Security has already been alerted."

Vespa ran towards them.

"What did you do?"

"I'll explain when we get out of here."

The three ran towards the exit and out onto the street.

"How are we supposed to get to the elevators?" Juno asked.

"Rita?"

"Take a left!"

Rita continued to give them directions until they got to the elevators. They had managed to outrun the guards and they climbed in.

"Do you have the ruby?'

Vespa nodded.

"Good."

After they got to the ground they ran to the Ruby Seven and got in.

"Drive!" Juno shouted. "We have to go now!"

________________________________________________________________________________

"Juno?"

Juno glanced up at Peter.

"It wasn't my fault."

"I know. And I don't care about that. We shouldn't have made you do this. You've never stolen anything before."

"Well we got it anyway."

"I'm glad you're okay."

"Thanks?"

"Juno, I'm serious, I'm glad the three of you made it out of there safely."

"So what's our next job?"

"We don't know yet, we are heading towards Pluto, Jet was contacted by a possible client there. Does it snow on Mars?"

"No."

"Have your measurements changed since I last bought you clothes? You're going to need a coat."


	4. Chapter Four

"Nureyev!" Vespa called entering the kitchen, her hair was green again. "Next time you either lend me a wig or let me keep my hair like this. Do you know how bad bleach is for hair?"

"Yes, I was blond a few years back for a long heist. All my wigs are custom made I don't think they would fit you."

"Nobody needs custom made wigs, seriously that money could have gone to something else, like shareable wigs or you could've saved it."

"Can you be quiet?" Juno asked walking into the kitchen.

"It's too early for this."

"It's one in the afternoon."

"I need coffee." Juno mumbled.

"Good morning Juno."

Juno grunted in response as he turned on the coffee machine.

"Mista Steeeeeeeeeeeel!" Rita called running up to him dragging Jet behind her.

"What?"

"Jet has Super Space Earth Invaders Three! And I have the first two movies so we can watch all of them!"

"He only has the third one?"

"The third is my favourite."

"Have either of you seen Buddy? I wanna talk to her."

"She's still in bed," Vespa said. "She was really busy and didn't get much rest."

"I really need to ask her something."

"You can ask her later."

"I have to ask her something too," Said Peter. "It's rather urgent."

The coffee machine beeped and Juno poured himself a cup.

"Ask me what?" Buddy asked walking in. She wrapped an arm around Vespa and kissed her on the cheek. "I'm busy today so make it quick."

"Ladies first." Peter said gesturing at Juno.

"Let me have breakfast first!" Buddy said. "It's the most important meal of the day."

________________________________________________________________________________

"So Rita, darling, I don't believe I got your last name. What is it?"

"She's not gonna tell you." Juno said. "It's-"

"No! It doesn't matter! Rita's fine just call me that!"

Peter laughed. "It can't be that bad."

"It is!" Juno and Rita said at the same time.

"Okay then. Anyway," Peter took a sip of his coffee. "Do either of you have winter coats?"

"Isn't what I already have enough?"

"No, it's not." Buddy interjected. "It's extremely cold, you would get hypothermia the moment you stepped outside dressed like that."

"Why are we going to Pluto again?"

"We have a client there, and a possible buyer for the Ruby. Anyway Juno, what did you want to ask me?"

"Can we talk privately?"

"Of course," Buddy got up and gesture for Juno to follow.

"So what is it?" Buddy asked when they were out of hearing range of the others. "If it's about Peter I don't care."

"What? No it's-"

"I don't know what happened between you two but by the way you've both been acting it was something important. Whatever it was doesn't matter if you want to solve this you need to talk to each other about this."

"That's not what I wanted to ask."

"Oh, okay what then?"

"I wanted to know if you're going to fire me?"

"Why would we do that?"

"Because I messed up the job?"

"You didn't do anything. Also Rita said she'd leave if you did. We need a good shot on our team as well."

"I can't, my eye..."

"You're better than Jet, and me and Vespa prefer knives, so does Peter and Rita would be good at hand to hand combat with a bit of training, point is you're the only sharpshooter in the group and if you really think you're that useless we can get you an new one that doesn't have a tracking device on it."

"Okay, thanks I guess."

"Don't worry about it."

________________________________________________________________________________

"So we'll get to Pluto in a few days I need to make sure you two are ready. When we land Buddy will go get you the appropriate clothing and then we will go meet our client. I know neither of you have seen snow but you'll have plenty of time to admire it later. Let Buddy do the talking. Then we will pack our things and head the hotel I booked rooms at. We then will start planning."

Jet smiled at Juno and Rita expectantly.

"What exactly is snow?" Juno asked.

"It is frozen water."

"Like ice? Hate to break it to you but when ice comes down that's called hale."

"It's more like crushed ice, it is soft."

"Uh huh..."

"Also, Rita, Pluto has some great streams I want to show you."

Rita gasped. "Really!?"

"Yes, there's this one that I know you will like."

Juno left them to their shows and headed towards his room."

He turned a corner and found Buddy and Peter talking quietly in the hall. He backed behind the corner and listened.

"I don't care, I'm still putting him on jobs."

"Buddy-"

"I'll put you on jobs together if you want but I'm not keeping him here."

"He could work with Rita."

"He's never used a computer and Rita will also be on jobs with us sometimes."

"Please don't put him on jobs with me?"

"Why? You two have worked together before."

"Juno was on a job with me once... And now he wears an eye patch."

"Juno would be in more danger if he was left here. Do you think he'd stay? Or leave and go on his own?"

Peter was silent.

"Okay, I will try to not put you two together on jobs but I might have to."

"Thank you."

Peter turned and left and then rounded the corner.

"Aah!" He immediately turned and went back.

Juno followed.

"Juno?" Buddy said. "How much did you hear?"

"None." He lied.

"Let him know we're having a meeting in half and hour."

"Okay."

________________________________________________________________________________

"Peter?" Juno entered their room and looked up at Peter's bunk.

"Peter, I know you're here."

"You are a detective." Peter said his voice muffled slightly.

"It wasn't your fault." Juno said.

"What?"

"The whole thing with Miasma. It wasn't your fault."

Juno sits on his bunk.

"You heard?"

"Yeah. Can, can we talk?"

Peter sighed.

"Alright."

Peter climbed down from his bunk and sat next to Juno.

"You really don't think it wasn't my fault?"

"No, of course not. You didn't know you were working for somebody like that. And I swallowed the pill, if anything it's my fault."

"But I dragged you into it."

"She would've found me anyway. And you had so many chances to leave and not come back but you didn't. I did and I'm so so sorry."

"Oh, Juno,"

Peter said softly.

"That wasn't your fault but, thank you."

"I know you probably won't ever fully trust me again and I've accepted that but... Uh... D you think we could try again? Whatever we had?"

"I... I would like that very much."

Peter moved closer to Juno.

"Would it be okay if I... kiss you?"

Juno nodded silently. Peter smiled and their lips met.

The kiss was too long and too short at the same time. When they broke apart wasn't sure how to react.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Peter said casually as if nothing had happened. Jet opened the door.

"Buddy wants to see us in three minutes."

"Thank you, we'll be there."

Jet nodded and left.

Peter reached for Juno's hand.

"We wouldn't want to be late, would we?"

Juno took Peter's hand.

"No, we wouldn't."


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapters super long and kinda sad enjoy

"Alright," Buddy said.

"So we're going to meet a possible client on Pluto. We'll need to get Rita and Juno coats so I need your sizes. Anyway let's go over how the meeting will go. Juno, you're Magnus Blackrock, Peter: Angel Blackrock."

"Wait-"

"Questions later. Vespa will go as Kitty Park. Rita and Jet are going to come with us. Rita: Harley Diamond Jet: Corneilus Bell and I will go as: Lavinia Park. Any questions?"

"Yeah," Juno said. "Why are we doing all this? We don't even know what we're supposed to steal yet."

"True, but only me and Vespa are meeting the client. They wouldn't tell us what he wants over the phone but we know enough to plan it at least partially. We know who it belongs to and that they carry it on their person at all times. It's most likely a piece of jewelry. Peter, darling, could you and Jet teach these two," She gestured at Juno and Rita. "How to do their jobs properly."

"Hey, Rita's an amazing hacker!" Juno protested.

"Of course, I just think she can do more than just hacking."

"I'm sorry Mrs. Buddy but I don't wanna steal nothing."

"What about that time you told me about when you stole salmon puffs from a store?"

"Yeah but that was ages ago."

"And that one time in front of me when we still worked for the police?"

"Yeah but I apologized and returned it."

"Because I told you to. And that time last month? You took advantage of all my bones being broken."

"But I was hungry and didn't have any money."

"Guys," Buddy said. "That's not even what I want Rita to do. I want her to cause a diversion."

"Oh. Well if you need somebody to steal snacks she can do it."

"We don't need to steal those." Peter said. "We can afford them."

"You buy stuff? But you're thieves."

"Juno, I haven't stolen food since I was seventeen. I don't think the others ever have."

"I did once." Vespa said. "Well actually it was a beer and I didn't need it. It was pretty easy to since I was older than seven."

"What?" Peter said incredulously.

"Oh yeah, the legal drinking age on Mars used to be seven, they changed it to seventeen though, can't imagine why."

"Wh- Because children shouldn't consume alcohol Juno."

"Why? I did and I'm- Mick... Sasha did and she's in Dark matters."

"Who?"

"Mick and Sasha are my friends Sasha was the one who told me you'd be on that case. She also told me if she sees you again it'll be the last time anyone sees you."

"Oh how kind of her."

"This is fun and all but can we please get back to the job?" Buddy asked before Juno could reply.

"Our plan is to steal it at a gala so Peter and Jet are going to teach you how to act at such an event since there are a certain set off rules to follow."

"Could Vespa teach Rita how to dance? We are both too tall."

"What kind of dancing?" Juno asked. "Maybe I could teach her."

"Steel," Vespa said. "I didn't know you could dance. Nice." She shot Peter a meaningful look.

"My brother, he was a dancer we practiced together a lot and that's how I learned."

"Juno I didn't know you had a brother who could dance. Peter, why didn't you tell us? He could have come along."

"He couldn't actually." Juno said softly.

"Boss..."

"Because he's dead. My mother did it. Have you ever arrested your mother? Because it's really something."

"Oh Juno... I'm so so-"

"It's fine." Juno said. "It happened ages ago." Juno stood up, turned and left.

Rita got up and ran after him. "Mista Steel!"

Juno went into his room and sat on his bed. He tried to calm his breathing and hold back the tears. He also tried not to think about how he and Peter had kissed in the same spot. He really really tried.

Rita burst through the door.

"Mista Steel!"

She walked over and gently placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Mista Steel, are you okay?"

"No Rita, I'm really not!"

He took a deep breath. "I'm so tired of people saying they're sorry, it's not like they can do anything they weren't there. I- I miss him Rita and it doesn't help that I'm constantly reminded of him whenever I look in the mirror."

"I know, do you wanna talk about it?"

"No."

"Okay." Rita sat next to him.

"Do you wanna do anything?"

"Not really."

Rita gave him a hug. "Alright."

________________________________________________________________________________

Juno didn't leave his room for lunch or dinner. He was already in bed when Peter came in.

"Where's Jet?" He asked hoping to avoid a conversation he knew he couldn't."

"With Rita, they're watching some space werewolf thing."

Juno nodded.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. I just love it when I have to remember the worst experience of my life."

Peter sighed "Juno-"

"I had to arrest my own mother! Do you know what that's like? The looks you get?"

"I understand somewhat."

"Not all of us can be adopted Peter." Juno sat up. "Sucks that I wasn't, then I wouldn't have to worry about ending up like that."

"Like what?"

"My mother was the type of person who let her anger get the best of her and... Sometimes I do too."

"Juno you're not like that."

"I know! And I'm terrified for when that's going to change and I go too far! I know it's gonna happen I just don't know when and I'm scared! I'm scared I'm scared I'm going to really hurt somebody I care about and lose them. I told you I left because I thought you were going to realize I wasn't the person you thought I was and that you don't like who I really am and maybe I'm right about that. It wouldn't be the first time it happened and sometimes... And sometimes I think I should just give up and stop talking to people because eventually they're all going to get tired of me and leave! And I'm just so tired of being a disappointment to everyone but they just won't leave me alone and I know they're just waiting for me to mess up, to make a mistake so they can justify the way they treat me! And I should just make it easier for everyone and join my brother!"

Juno didn't know he was crying until Peter wiped the tears away.

"I'm not tired of you." Peter said softly. "I like who you are."

"I have a lot of time to prove you wrong."

Juno sighed in annoyance he hated that he couldn't say anything without his voice breaking.

What he hated more was the fact that he was still crying Peter pulled Juno against his and Juno pressed his face into Peter's shoulder soaking his shirt with his tears.

"Waltz." Peter whispered.

"What?"

"Waltz, that's what Buddy said we had to learn. How to waltz. Do you know how to waltz?"

"Yeah."

"Then maybe you can teach me. When you're feeling better of course."

The smell of Peter's cologne was calming and he liked it when Pete started to stroke his hair. He didn't know how it had happened but they had ended up lying down. Curled up against each other. He managed to take of his eye patch without having to move too much. Peter smiled and pulled the blanket over the both of them.


End file.
